You nearly had to do a double take watching Joseph Baena and Daniella Karagach dance during Disney+ Night on Dancing With the Stars. Joseph played Hercules for his Charleston routine to “A Star Is Born” from the Disney movie. Joseph spoke with reporters, including HollywoodLife, about how dad Arnold Schwarzenegger, who played Hercules in the 1969 movie Hercules In New York, is “so proud” of him.
“I love my father. He’s the smartest, best man I can think of, so to be compared to him, to be in the same character Hercules, he played Hercules in New York, it’s amazing. It’s awesome. And who doesn’t want to be like their father, right? It’s great,” Joseph said.
When asked if he could ever see his father doing Dancing With the Stars, Joseph responded, “This show? No.” He added, “I don’t know [why], but I’ll carry the weight on this one.”
Like his father, Joseph has embraced the bodybuilding lifestyle. However, he’s noticed changes in his body since starting his Dancing With the Stars journey.
“I feel like I’m getting a little leaner. I’m losing weight for sure. It’s definitely a change of pace. It’s a lot more cardio. It’s a lot more core,” Joseph revealed. “I mean, she’s kicking my butt in the ballroom. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll see me drenched in sweat basically every night because of these workouts, and [it was] a blessing in disguise that she was able to rise up for the last week and a half because these flips we have been beating each other up. I have bruises under the sparkles here, and she doesn’t have any scrapes or marks, but I have scrapes, I have marks… the regimen of working out is completely different. The body’s changing a little bit, but we’re still pumped up.”
Joseph and Daniella made it through the latest elimination. Sam Champion was sent home at the end of Disney+ Night. Joseph and Daniella will be hitting the ballroom more than once for the show’s two-night event next week.
Ahead of Disney+ Night, Joseph revealed what his dad thinks of his newfound dancing skills. “I keep surprising him,” Joseph told ET. “He’s watched the past three dances and he keeps saying, every week, he’s like ‘Jesus Christ, I can’t even believe that you can move like that!’ Because our family’s not known for dancing, especially on my dad’s side.”